Canada

Canada doubles wind installation over 2011

CANADA: The country is set to have a record year for wind installations, with capacity installed in 2011 projected to be nearly double the number of megawatts put in the ground in 2010.

According to the Canadian Wind Energy Association, approximately 1,338MW of new installed wind-energy capacity is projected to come online by the end of the year, compared to 690MW installed in 2010. These new installations represent almost $3.5 billion in investment.

Ontario is Canada's leader for new wind-energy installations, with more than 500MW projected to be installed by the end of year. New wind farms are also being commissioned in seven other Canadian provinces in 2011, including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Canada is now expected to end 2011 with more than 5,300 MW of total installed wind-energy capacity. This is up from only 198MW at the end of 2001.

Looking forward, more than 6,000MW of wind-energy projects are already contracted to be built in Canada over the next five years and several provincial governments are launching new procurement processes to obtain even more wind energy.

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